As you know, the WhatsApp everyone is hooked on lately spilled from mobile onto the web. More accurately, it arrived on Google Chrome. The arrival was not much of a success. The system we (myself included) waited for with real curiosity turned into a full disappointment. What sits under that letdown?
- The iOS letdown: citing various reasons, WhatsApp left iOS users out of the web client. Shutting out a major share of the market ranks first among why the project stumbled.
- Always tethered to the phone: WhatsApp Web wants the mobile app open the whole time. Moving the chat from phone screen to desktop is not that useful when everything still rides your mobile data and the phone acts as if WhatsApp is in heavy use, draining the battery.
- Thin browser support: Chrome is the most used browser, and WhatsApp built for it. Leaving Internet Explorer, Safari, and Firefox aside is another core reason the web client failed to land.
For those reasons WhatsApp could not copy its mobile success on the desktop. Messaging on the phone is still a revolution, and we are not quitting mobile WhatsApp. Without major upgrades, though, the web client is headed for the failed-launch bin. And it may be another entry on Mark Zuck.’s list of uneven Facebook-era bets, this time via WhatsApp.
